Ultraviolet (UV) liquid disinfection systems, using UV light source have been long known. The irradiation of the liquid inactivates microorganisms in the liquid, if the irradiation intensity and exposure duration are above a minimum dose level. The disinfection systems may require a reliable monitoring system to allow control and supervision of the disinfection process. Such a monitoring system may include one or more detectors to detect light intensity of light emitted from the UV light source in order to obtain UV light transmission in the liquid. The UV light transmission may then be correlated to the required overall UV dose (often measured in units of miliJoules per square centimeter) delivered by the UV disinfection system to water borne harmful microorganisms to ensure disinfection to the required level.
Conventional monitoring systems for UV disinfection systems usually perform off-line UV light transmission measurements on samples of liquid transferred from the disinfection reactor to an external monitoring reactor. Such external systems are expensive, space consuming and complicate the process of disinfection. An internal, reliable, direct real-time measurement of liquid UV light transmission in disinfection systems is highly required.
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